The first round of the District One PIAA playoffs ended with a Neshaminy victory. Friday night’s game ended with a score of Neshaminy 41, Unionville 7, and while it may seem that Neshaminy completely dominated the whole game, this is not the case.
Both Unionville and Neshaminy put on a great display of their defensive capabilities during the first quarter. Unionville was able to keep junior running back D’Andre Pollard under control, while Neshaminy was keeping junior Unionville quarterback Alex Pechin in check with pressure from the defensive line.
When the first quarter came to a close, the score was Neshaminy zero, Unionville zero. While the first quarter proved to be uneventful, both teams were clearly worn out from a full quarter of tough, solid, heavy-duty football.
After switching sides, Neshaminy would start out with the ball after forcing Unionville to turn over on downs. The second quarter began to look like a play-by-play-copy of the first quarter, however with about three minutes left in the game Pollard ran for a six yard touchdown. Minutes later, Unionville would similarly run the ball into the end zone for a seven yard touchdown.
The first half would end Neshaminy 7, Unionville 7. At this point, it looked as if the game would come down to the last play, or possibly overtime. “At the half, we got with each of our coaches, got our individual assignments down and executed them,” Pollard said.
Neshaminy kicked off to Unionville, whom they forced to punt after a series of short runs and incomplete passes. The half over, the Neshaminy offense came out an entirely different team. Pollard would run for consecutive touchdowns in less than one minute.
The first touchdown was a short 11 yard run after, however after the kickoff Neshaminy would recover a Unionville fumble and senior quarter back Tyler Wombough handed the ball off to Pollard who again scored a touchdown.
Before the quarter was out, Unionville would turn the ball over again with an interception by junior defensive back Boniface Stevens who brought it to Unionville’s 15 yard line. After an unsuccessful run by Pollard, Wombough handed the ball off to senior running back Denny Lord for a touchdown at the end of the third quarter.
“We really became a football team in the second half of the game, everyone settled down at the end of the half,” head coach Mark Schmidt said.
The third quarter would end with a score of 28 to 7; Neshaminy had taken a definitive lead. At the beginning of the fourth quarter Unionville was obviously de-moralized, but had not yet given up hope.
Successfully containing the Neshaminy offense for the bulk of the fourth quarter the Unionville defense eventually let up mid-way through the fourth quarter. Pollard would strike again with yet another touchdown run. The point after went through the uprights, Neshaminy kicked off, Unionville returned and consequently punted.
The game was essentially over for Unionville; however before the game was officially over senior running back Trokon Buesmaill would score the final touchdown of the game on a 37 yard run.
“Tonight was the tale of two half’s, they came out and executed better, number 21 (Pollard) did what he does best and my hat’s off to him,” Unionville head coach Pat Clark said. Pollard would finish the game with four touchdowns and 219 total rushing yards.
Neshaminy’s second round opponent will be the Spring-Ford Rams; the second round game will be hosted by Neshaminy on Nov. 15.
